Page 3 - HIWT Winter 2015 World of Welding

Strategic Student Planning

November 2015

In July of this year I had the pleasure of attending and speaking at the American Welding
Society (AWS)- Instructors Institute in Doral, Florida. Its a fantastic gathering of welding
instructors from across the country to gather and learn from industry experts, peers and AWS.

During the weeklong event I had the opportunity to share with the attendees the importance
of Strategic Student Planning for our welding students, future students and our own careers.
Strategic Student Planning takes from the basic format of product life cycle or in our welding
student world school life cycle which leads to career life cycle.

A couple product life cycle examples would be:

a. Video Players; Beta, VHS, DVD, Blu-ray
b. Movies; Production, Movie Theatre, Dollar Saver Theatre, DVD bin at Wal-Mart

Its vitally important that our students and career individuals have a think ahead/whats next
By Scott A. Mazzulla, President thought process. Shown are cycle graphs that explain;
Hobart Institute of Welding Technology

Product Life Cycle High School Cycle

Decline Senior
Mature Junior
Grow Sophomore
Develop Freshman
Fig. A
Fig. C
Fig A: Shows a common product life cycle from development to Fig C: Shows a high school cycle for a students 4 years.
decline.
As students make decisions on whats next many will choose to
attend HIWT.

Product Life Cycle Decline
Mature High School to 6-9 months
Post Secondary- HIWT
Grow 5-6 months
Decline
Sales Develop 4-5 months
Mature
0-3 months
Grow Age Senior
Junior
Develop
Sophomore
Time
Freshman
Fig. B
Time
Fig B Shows that as a product matures and organization must have Fig. D
a whats next in place prior to a decline. You can see the next Fig D: Shows how HIWTs 9.5 month combination structural and
round of progression in red.
pipe welding program aligns in the student strategic planning
The same concept fts for high school students. As high school process. During an HIWTs student tenure the planning does
students prepare for graduation they are all considering whats not stop, we carry this process into job placement to assure our
next and the strategic planning begins. students are planning very early on.
continued on page 4

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